Enlightened

A small glimpse at Luminous World (2013).

Charles Darwin University (CDU) Art Gallery hosts its second touring art exhibition, Luminous World, featuring 57 works by 44 artists – each of whom engage in a conversation about light. Richard Deveraux reports. 

It’s midday and I am standing in the hallway outside the CDU Art Gallery, feeling a little cautious and uncertain as to whether to just walk in and look around. It’s very quiet, but peaceful with only the occasional distant footsteps of office workers heard shuffling around to break the silence.

Two festival-goers or possible art connoisseurs arrive and sign the attendance book at door. They enter the Gallery, prompting me to follow.

The space is softly lit, covered wall-to-wall with various works of art – ranging from photographs, to paintings, to Indigenous sculptures.

From the corner of my eye, I see a woman breeze past and hastily disappear behind a wall. She moves into a hidden room within the gallery.

I approach the security guard, who enthusiastically greets all visitors with a smile. “Was that Anita Angel? I have an interview with her today,” I say. The guard retracts slightly and responds, “Ahh, you must be the person she has been waiting for.” After a short wait, I finally meet Anita Angel: Curator of the CDU Art Collection and Art Gallery.

Anita Angel, giving a talk on opening night of “Common Ground: Batchelor Institute & Charles Darwin University Art Collections” (2013)

Richard: Luminous World is an exhibition touring to multiple cities around Australia. How did CDU come to host it?

Anita: The idea of touring Luminous World happened about two years ago. My colleague Helen Carroll [Fairhall] – the Curator of the Wesfarmers Collection – came here to Darwin and saw the University Art Gallery and thought it would be a fantastic exhibition space if they were to have a touring show.

The Wesfarmers Collection, in recent years, has focused a lot on contemporary Indigenous art, and it made sense after the show initially opened at the Art Gallery of WA that the first leg of the national tour be [held] in the Territory during the 30^th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award – with all the celebrations that are on in Darwin [at this time].

Richard: What do you think makes Luminous World different from other art exhibitions?

Anita: Probably the most distinguishing feature of the exhibition is that the art that is represented and has been collected in recent years – which include Australian Indigenous art; Australian non-Indigenous contemporary art; and art from New Zealand – is displayed holistically. Works are mixed together; they’re not segregated, categorised or classified in any way – except as art. The exhibition itself is conceived in terms of a universal theme of light and also reflects a sort of, universal sense of humanity. 

Richard: As a student I know that the Art Gallery is still relatively new (less than five years old). Can you tell me more about how this facility came to be?

Anita: Miracles happen! (laughs). When the Chancellery, Building Orange 12 on Casuarina Campus, was built in 2009, the then Vice–Chancellor decided that we should have a dedicated space for the University Art Collection – that the time had come. It was like a coming of age for the University to have its own space for collection-focused and collection-related exhibitions.

Richard: It’s definitely a really lovely building. I was mentioning it to someone in class and they were like: “I love that building!”

Anita: Yes, I agree. Do you know how it changes colour in the light? It’s actually a cladding material called Alucobond. Several artists have contacted me over the years and asked: “Can you send me information about this material? We’d like to buy some”. It’s a material that changes colour in the light so in full sun it’s bright red; in the shade it’s yellow. It’s just great and artists, as well as architects, love it.

What:

Luminous World: contemporary art from the Wesfarmers Collection

Art exhibition – 57 works by 44 artists from Australia and New Zealand

When:

Showing Thursday 8 August to Friday 4 October 2013

Public Programs & Group Bookings:

Contact the Curator, Anita Angel: E anita.angel@cdu.edu.au or T 8946 6621

Opening Hours:

Monday-Friday 10am-4pm, or by appointment

Where:

CDU Art Gallery, Chancellery, Building Orange 12.1.02, Casuarina Campus

Admission:

Free

More info & site map:

cdu.edu.au/artgallery